A belated THANK YOU to everyone who commented. This is the final result. We're super happy with it. Room A north facing "through-lounge" in a new build, 3 bed semi detached house Paint Walls: Purbeck Stone, Farrow & Ball Ceiling: Strong White, Farrow & Ball By the way, the room isn't as long and skinny as it looks in the photos. Painting it all one colour actually made it feel much, much larger. We were really impressed with the quality of advice the F&B staff gave us in regards to colour. We loved Purbeck Stone from the minute we saw it, and being brave really paid off.

The funny thing is that nothing dates faster than the latest trends! Whether it's the recent vogue for Pistachio green, Orange, or neutral greys or taupe colours or trendy wallpapers, such as the ubiqitous 'Woods'. Paint is the safest and easiest option for those without confidence or design knowledge. Paint does bring out the architectural quality and details (that why until recently architects have rejected them on the whole). But I really disagree with those that say paint lasts longer than papers. Of course it depends on if it's used in high traffic areas but wallpapers in some houses have lasted well over a century! A choice of wallpaper show a certain statement of confidence and with current Site specific, carefully designed Digital papers or Artisan designed, hand crafted or printed wallpaper you are installing a work of art to be enjoyed for a considerable time.

Hi Liz, sounds like you've got an exciting project on your hands. My two penneth, for what it's worth, is that hallways are often neglected or left til the end. Some people don't think they are worthy of spending too much money on. However, I disagree. When you first walk in the door, or you move from room to room, your hallway gets oodles of views and movement throughout the day. When people visit - their first impression to your house is in your hallway, so you should start as you mean to go on. So rather than paint over the wallpaper and make do, if it was me, I would bite the bullet and take off the old wallpaper and repaint the walls. Whilst doing it, pay attention to the lighting in the hallway and make improvements to increase the light. I can't comment on what needs to be added from the pictures, but you could consider recessed lighting up the stairs, better quality pendant lights, placing mirrors opposite windows to reflect the light back in. Or why not follow Abigail Aherne's lead and embrace the dark side. Make it cosy, comfortable and a little bit quirky! There's lots to consider, but ditch the paper!! Most importantly, enjoy the process and don't think of it as a chore. It's exciting and the adventure is only just beginning.

I don't think it's going to be as hard as you think. I would imagine the top layer is going to peel off relatively easily. Then work on one wall at a time..............score the backing paper ( you can use a paint scraper ), fully soak the wall all over ( using a big car sponge - and i mean soak it ), then go back to the beginning and re-soak an area of around 6-8 feet at a time. Scrape the paper in an upwards but slightly sideways direction, It should hopefully come off ok. Steamers are a waste of time! The old fashioned way, worked well enough for decades! Good luck x